Azure DevOps

What I like the most about this product is how it truly puts everything under one roof for our whole team. As an automation tester, its a huge relief to have our git repos right next to our sprint boards and test plans. I love that I can just click on a user story and see the exact code changes and the test cases that go with it without having to hunt through five different apps. It just makes our daily standups and sprint planning sessions so much easier and much faster because all the data we need is just there. The integration of different tools under Azure DevOps is a total game changer like, Git Repos, Test Plans, Pipelines, etc.,. I can just trigger a build and see the test results update our Test Suite in real time automatically is so satisfying. It really helps with traceability because if a bug pops up I can track it all the way back to the specific PBI or feature it came from. It just makes the whole process feel very organic and less like a bunch of separate tasks.

Working agile, we are able to organize our boards and sprints respectively. We also like the detail that can be added to PBIs (definition of done, acceptance criteria, discussions, etc.). The tagging feature is great for complex products like the ones we have.

The most valuable part of Azure DevOps is how seamlessly it supports both planning and delivery within our team. We make extensive use of the boards features, where engineers and managers plan sprint work, track progress, and maintain clear goals and tasks. It provides a structure that keeps everyone aligned and makes workload management more transparent. I've also started using Repos to build a CI/CD pipeline that automatically uploads our content to our Sentinel SIEM using a detection-as-code framework. The process integrates cleanly with Sentinel through YAML and PowerShell, and has significantly improved the consistency and reliability of how we deploy changes with a clear audit trail. Lastly, the Wiki functionality has been invaluable. It allows us to centralise and share knowledge across the team, ensuring documentation is easy to access, well-structured, and always up-to-date.

Sometimes it can get overwhelming and can get the interface cluttered when you are managing a large project. As someone who has to handle everything from sprint boards to test plans and repos, it feels like there are too many menu options and tabs to navigate through, sometimes you can get confused with the navigation as there are too many. I also hate how easy it is to lose track of PBIs and Tasks as the parent child relationships get so complex and messy overtime.

Creating PBIs using a parent and child can be complicated and time-consuming. In addition, we sometimes lose track of items in all of this complexity, creating further confusion.

Azure DevOps comes with a steep learning curve, especially for those who are new to DevOps practices or have limited experience with CI/CD tooling. It took me some time to fully understand how to structure repos, build working pipelines, and make the most of the platform's capabilities. Another challenge is the variation between how different teams configure their projects. Because each project can be set up uniquely, with different boards, processes, workflows, and conventions, it can be difficult to navigate or understand how teams track their work. This can sometimes cause confusion or missing items when collaborating across teams. While this isn't strictly a flaw in DevOps itself, it's a side effect of how flexible and feature-rich Azure DevOps is, which can make the overall experience clunky.